Bootleg Canyon trailmaster position left vacant

By Jean Reid Norman

Friday, June 5, 2009 | 5:46 p.m.

Members of the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission are not happy that the Bootleg Canyon trailmaster’s position has been eliminated in next year’s budget.

They said they fought for the position during a February budget hearing and left the hearing assured the position would remain. So they were surprised when they found out May 27 that the position would not be filled.

“It’s kind of heartbreaking,” said commission member Scott Kahler, who helped write the master plan for Bootleg Canyon.

City Manager Vicki Mayes said the position still exists on the books, but she recommended the City Council see if the job could be done more economically by city crews after revenue projections fell short for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Many city positions are being left open to reduce the amount of money the city will have to use from its ending fund balance, which acts as a reserve, she said. The ending fund balance, which was $5 million two years ago, is expected to fall to $2 million next year, according to the final budget document.

The parks commissioners say revenue that should be going to pay the trailmaster salary has been diverted to other needs.

The master plan called for revenue the city receives from Bootleg Canyon Flightlines, a commercial zipline ride operation, to pay for the trailmaster position, Kahler said. But that money has gone into the general fund instead, he said.

It was the commission’s understanding that if the Brent Thomson, who built many of the biking trails in the canyon but has since died, brought in the contract for the flightlines to Boulder City, the revenue would be used to make him the trailmaster, board Chairman Harold Begley said.

The contract with Greenheart Aerial Trail System brings in $104,000 a year, more than enough to fund the position, Begley said, and he is unhappy that it is not earmarked for Bootleg Canyon.

The only way the money would not go into the general fund, Mayes said, is if the City Council set up Bootleg Canyon as an enterprise fund. She said she is not sure the revenue would cover the cost of the landscaping, water and trailmaster position at Bootleg Canyon.

Mayes said she is working with Parks and Recreation Director Roger Hall to send city crews to clean the restrooms and maintain the park. Extra part-time help or volunteers may be needed before big events or after a rainstorm and, in the end, the city may find that the job is too big, she said. If so, she said, a trailmaster could be hired before June 2010, the end of the fiscal year.

Jeff Frampton, owner of All Mountain Cyclery, which sells mountain bikes, said taking care of the trails requires biking and trail experience, and he is not sure city crews have that.

“There are different techniques to keep a trail sustainable so it sheds water appropriately, so it doesn’t need a lot of maintenance,” he said.

Bootleg Canyon, with its 36 miles of trails, is too big a job for even a full-time trailmaster, Kahler said. Thomson volunteered his time as trailmaster, but he relied on the help of volunteers to keep up, Kahler said.

In addition, the park needs someone who can coordinate and manage the downhill biking events that bring revenue not only to the city in lease payments, but also to Boulder City businesses where the mountain bikers spend their money, he said.

Park board member Darryl Molisee worries about the further-reaching effects if Bootleg Canyon is neglected.

“The money that is brought in just to Boulder City proper — motels, restaurants, those types of things — is huge,” he said. “That will likely come to an end if we do not fund the trailmaster position.”

Frampton said local mountain bikers have been talking about coming up with an affordable plan to bring to the city to pay for a trailmaster.

“I think that we’re interested in doing whatever it take to keep Bootleg Canyon alive,” he said. “People know about Bootleg Canyon all over. It’s definitely a destination.”